Puerto Rican identities : construction of the Puerto Rican middle class through place, education and nationalism

Abstract

The subject of this thesis is the construction of the Puerto Rican identity. During my fielwork in 2009 I followed the movement done by individuals in city of San Juan. Movement is a natural aspect of the Puerto Rican way of life as they have a long history of circular migration to and from the island through their natural rights to U.S. citizenship. By emphasising movement through the city I noticed that the city landscape steered individuals in certain ways, but also how social groups made their impact on this space. Movement in, and the shaping of, space is a way of producing group identification which I connected to social class. In this process space became contested and enclaved, i.e. physical and social boundaries were produced. Inspired by theorist such as Anderson, Bourdieu and Ortner I look at class consciousness through history, education and the construction of middle class consciousness. These processes have come to produce diverse notions of the Puerto Rican ‘imagined community’. Furthermore, I expand the discussion of the Puerto Rican identity to incorporate it into a wider discussion of identity.